Sarah Lane Writing Portfolio

Lane wrote more than 2,000 articles for Inside Bainbridge, which for 4.5 years was the news website for the Seattle bedroom community of Bainbridge Island, Washington. In 2015, it was voted among the top five news blogs of Western Washington. Previously, Lane wrote for the blogs On a Ledge and ProgressiveKid Reader, and she has contributed many articles to her clients’ websites. Here are a few samples of her writing:

If You Bike with Your Dog, Do It Right

Written for a client, December 2018.

You know the guy: He and his dog nearly clotheslined you with a retractable leash as he cycled past on the sidewalk. You don’t want to be him.You also don’t want to be his dog, and you for suredon’t want to be anywhere near either of them as they careen by. If you decide that biking is the right exercise for you and your dog, commit to biking safely and with intelligence—not like that guy.

The Dog

Size. First off, make sure your dog is the right size. A small dog, under thirty pounds, isn’t built for running alongside you on your bike. For a small dog, running with a biker is like you running alongside a motorbike. The dog could die from heart failure or exhaustion or heat stroke. If you have a small dog, see the Gear for Little Dogs section below for suggestions of other ways to bike with your dog.

Temperament. Size matters, but it’s not the only consideration. Not every larger dog is focused enough to run safely alongside your bike. If you have a squirrel chaser on your hands, what’s to stop Petal from lunging and pulling you over? If your dog is aggressive, you might have trouble controlling her when you pass dog walkers. You need to make sure your dog has the right temperament, and even then you need to practice and take short test drives in quiet, low-traffic areas to see if she can handle biking.

Age.Your cycling companion also needs to be of the right age. A puppy is not a candidate for biking. The puppy’s growth plates are not completely ossified and are therefore easily injured, which can result in lifelong deformity or limp. Adrienne Janet Farricelli, a veterinary hospital assistant, explains why: When a dog’s growth plate is injured, the damaged cells will stop growing on the injured side. Because the healthy cells on the other side keep growing, the plate becomes deformed.

It’s not just puppies who are vulnerable to problems from intense exercise. So are senior dogs. According to Dr. Susan Jeffrey, a veterinarian in Madison, Wisconsin, both puppies and senior dogs can have trouble regulating their body temperature, which makes bike-running a bad idea for them.

Breed. Finally, make sure you’ve got the right breed for intense exercise. Brachycephalic dogs are dogs with short snouts—like pugs and bulldogs—and they, as a result, have trouble cooling off enough. You don’t want to bike with those dogs. Also, don’t cycle with dogs that have joint problems. Better candidates are high-energy hunting breeds.

The Location

It doesn’t make sense to bike-run with your dog in some locations. Heavily crowded urban areas are contraindicated. Your dog could get his paws stepped on or someone could walk in front of the two of you, forcing one of you but not necessarily the other to stop suddenly.

Hilly terrain makes your dog have to work even harder. You’ll be able to coast on the downhill portions to catch your breath. Your dog will enjoy no such luxury.

Busy roads expose your dog to the dangers of traffic. A lot of drivers won’t be able to see your low-running dog.

Narrow trails are also a bad idea, as are challenging mountain biking runs where you’re more likely to fall off your bike—unless it’s safe for your dog to be off leash.

If you live in a quiet rural area, you also might be able to bike-run with your dog off leash. But if there is any danger of running into other people or encountering vehicle traffic, including other bikes, it’s best to play it safe and leash up.

If you’re bike-running in a mildly crowded park, use your bike bell to gently warn people of your approach from behind. Your bike and/or your dog might startle them.

Keep in mind that there are some communities with laws forbidding cycling on sidewalks. Also, there are people who don’t like cyclists in parks. Those people will likely be especially opposed to the double whammy of cyclist plus dog, and they might give you an earful as you pass.

Gear for Big Dogs

Whatever you do, don’t ever bike with King using a neck-secured leash. It doesn’t take much for the two of you to be separated suddenly by even a few feet, and the resulting quick snap on King’s neck could be life-threatening. Always use a body harness, no matter what other equipment you choose. These are readily available at any pet store. Get a good fit so there’s no chafing.

Once you commit to a body harness, you are also opening yourself to greater pull from your dog. Because dogs are low to the ground and on four feet, they can easily yank you off your bike, especially when attached via a body harness and leash. The answer is not that you should leash Chance via his neck; it is instead that you be aware, work on training, and use some additional safety equipment, which we’ll get to in a minute.

Never use a retractable lead. These leashes are always potentially dangerous as the human cannot quickly recall the dog once the lead is extended. In addition, a dog can quickly pull far from the human, creating a tripwire for passing joggers, walkers, and cyclists. When you combine a retractable lead with biking, the danger increases exponentially.

Dogs have the ability to focus on prey and movement to the exclusion of all else. If your dog sees something to chase or gets startled by something, she can easily run right in front of one of your tires. The result could be a serious injury—for one or both of you. There is no way to prevent this through training alone. The safest way to handle this problem is to use a semi-rigid dog bike leash.

This is a contraption that attaches on one end through a rigid frame to your bike, leaving your hands free to steer, and on the other end via a flexible lead to your dog’s harness—never a neck collar. The rigid frame minimizes the chance of your dog running in front of your bike tires. The flexible part gives your dog a little leeway for slowing down or speeding up as she runs beside you. The bike leash can also help you weather your dog’s occasional lunge—some models can resist a pull of over 500 pounds.

But be careful when using this contraption not to leave your dog attached to the bike after you dismount. If Lucy tries to follow you away from the bike, she might drag the bike, scaring the bejeesus out of her and possibly souring her on the whole biking experience forever.

If you’re going to be bike-running on or along roads with traffic, consider getting your dog a reflective vest. Remember that your dog is lower to the ground and, therefore, much harder for a car driver to see. If youneed to wear something reflective to make yourself visible, so does your dog.

Gear for Little Dogs

If you have a small dog and you want to go biking with him, you need to invest in a ride-along system. There are four options:

• Pet backpack. The very small dog can ride in a specially designed pack you wear on your back. The danger here, of course, is that if you fall off your bike Fido might get squished. There are many options available on the market, ranging from a breathable fully enclosed space capsule to a rear-facing body enclosing pack to a forward-facing baby-carrier type pack that has your dog riding with her paws on your shoulders. Prices vary widely, from about $17 to $70. Do your research, especially with safety and comfort in mind. Make sure that Lolita can’t wiggle from side to side, which could throw off your balance while riding.
• Rack carrier. Numerous companies make pet carriers that mount on the back rack of your bicycle. You have to make sure that your dog can’t jump out, but never ever secure your dog to the pet carrier by his neck. Use a harness instead. Some of these carriers are fully enclosable with a zipper, but you still need to secure your dog to minimize injury in an accident. Expect to drop anywhere between $35 and $200 on the carrier.
• Front-mount pet basket. There is a range of handlebar-mounted pet baskets on the market, from retro wicker baskets to what look like metal mesh shopping baskets. Again, secure your dog so she doesn’t jump out or fall out in a sudden stop, and, again, use a harness, not a neck collar. Pet baskets fall within the range of $30 and $100.
• Pet trailer. A pet trailer is just like a child carrier that you pull behind your bike via a rigid pole mount. Although Muffin won’t fall out of an enclosed pet trailer, you still want to make sure to secure him so that he doesn’t go flying in the event of a collision. Trailers are safer than other options, but they’re also considerably more expensive, running from about $100 up to $500.

If your dog is riding on the bike with you and is not completely enclosed in a carrier, you’re going to want to get some dog goggles to protect her eyes. These can set you back anywhere from $7 to $80.

Learning to Ride and Run Together

Riding a tandem bike takes practice, right? There is no reason to expect that biking with your dog is going to be a more easily mastered activity. Bikes are scary contraptions to a dog, and you’re deliberately attaching Buttercup to the scary contraption.

Practice. Start out practicing in a driveway or nearly empty parking lot, where other dogs and car traffic won’t be an issue. Get your dog to feel safe next to the bike by using treats to reward him. Move the pedals. Move a tire. Convince your dog with treats that the movement is not a bad thing.

When you’ve achieved a general level of comfort, walk the bike with the dog next to you. After Alexander is comfortable, switch sides so that the bike is between you. Treats will convince Alexander that bikes are in general a positive thing. Practice turning the bike to the right and the left as you walk together. He will quickly learn that he needs to trot faster to keep up with a turn away from him and to slow down when the turn is toward him.

Stamina Building. Once walking the bike seems like no big deal, try riding it slowly with your dog attached via the bike leash. If your dog seems okay with the whole biking experience, you can begin working on building up stamina.

Slowly extend the distance you ride. Veterinarian Christine Zink recommends gradually increasing the distance by 5 to 10 percent every four to six times out. So if you start out with 1 mile, after four 1-mile rides, you might bump it up to 1.10 miles the next time out. Once you reach 2 miles, she suggests you take a day of rest in between biking sessions.

Routine. J. Leslie Johnson, the author of Bike with Your Dog: How to Stay Safe and Have Fun,recommends the following biking routine: a walk to warm up; a short, slow bike ride that has the dog trotting; and then another walk to cool down. She takes her very energetic dog for no longer than 30-minute rides, and she and her dog take a day off after every ride.

Additional Safety Considerations

Double Width. A bike with a dog attached takes up double the room on a path. Biking with your dog makes you a potentially bigger nuisance in pedestrian areas. Be mindful of the extra room you are occupying.

Heat. When it’s really hot or humid, leave Rex at home.

Water. Your dog is going to be cooling off by panting. You try panting for twenty minutes and then see how thirsty you get. Make sure Ajax gets plenty of water along the way.

Speed. Don’t go too fast for your dog. If you’re essentially dragging Bubba, you’re going too fast. Bubba should mostly be trotting or walking.

Biking Laws. No states have laws expressly forbidding biking with your dog, but local jurisdictions might. Make sure you know the rules of the road. Accidents will happen, but you don’t want to get sued on top of having to deal with injuries.

Overexertion. Make sure you’re not overdoing it with Maximillian. PetMD offers a list of overexertion signs: wear and tear on paw pads, sore muscles, joint injury, behavioral changes, and heat sickness. According to PetMD, heat stroke manifests with symptoms like excessive panting as well as “drooling, reddened gums, vomiting, diarrhea, mental dullness or loss of consciousness, uncoordinated movement, and collapse.” If you see any of these signs, get help for your dog immediately. Heat stroke is life-threatening.

Identification. If you’re a regular biker, you know that accidents are sometimes inevitable. Chances are good if you bike-run regularly with your dog that you will crash at least once. Prepare in advance for this eventuality. When you’re biking with Tiger, you’ve got to ensure that she is cared for as well in an accident. Make sure she has I.D. at all times, including a phone number of someone, like your spouse, who can help. Make sure you have I.D. too. Carry the name of your vet so that first responders can call for assistance. What you don’t want to happen is for you to get carted away in an ambulance and your dog to be left behind without help.

Final Thoughts

Even if you do it right, not everyone is going to think that biking with your dog is a good idea. Dr. Kobi Johnson is a veterinarian in Tacoma, Washington. In an article in The Seattle Times, Johnson discourages the practice, saying that “the dog is likely to overexert quickly.” He explains that the cyclist, focused on riding, is unlikely to notice the dog’s condition soon enough, and the dog will be “behaviorally stimulated” to keep up. Johnson warns that the dog “runs the risk of overheating or overexerting . . . to the point where joints, muscles, respiratory and heart function, and even internal organs can be damaged.”

So what’s an avid cyclist and dog lover to do?

• Don’t go for very long bike rides.
• Take frequent breaks.
• Make sure your dog gets water.
• Check in with your dog. Watch for excessive panting, irregular breathing, uneven gait, or coughing. Those are signs that your dog is in the danger zone.
• Don’t bring along Fluffy when it’s warmer than 80°F, very humid, or cold enough for her to get frostbitten paws.
• Gear up appropriately.
• Be considerate and aware of the other people on the trail.

And whatever you do, don’t ever be that guy.

Extra Information

Is It Illegal to Bike with Your Dog?

In the United States, there is no federal nor state law prohibiting biking with your dog. However, regulations vary among local jurisdictions. It is at the level of local government where such ordinances may exist. You should always check ordinances of your locality to determine whether it is legal to bike with your dog.

Rules vary among countries. In the United Kingdom, Rule 66 of the Highway Code includes two stipulations that could be used against bikers riding with their dogs on leash:

• keep both hands on the handlebars except when signaling or changing gear and
• not carry anything which will affect your balance or may get tangled up with your wheels or chain.

Rule 301 of the Australian Road Rules stipulates that “The rider of a bicycle must not lead an animal, including by tethering the animal to the bicycle, unless the rider is permitted to do so under another law of this jurisdiction.”

How Do You Secure a Dog in a Bike Basket?

Some dog baskets are enclosed. But even when using those baskets, you should secure Junebug to the bottom via a short lead and harness to ensure her safety in an accident. Make sure that, if the dog falls out of the basket, the lead is short enough that she won’t reach and possibly get tangled in the bicycle spokes.

Never secure your dog to the basket via his neck. Always use a body harness.

How Do You Make a Bike Leash?

There are numerous do-it-yourself bike leash plans on the Internet. The elements that all the best plans have in common are as follows:

• a rigid pole (PVC or metal) securely mounted to the seat post and extending to the side of the bicycle (preferably the side away from traffic);
• an approximately 3-foot springy lead (such as bungee cord or metal spring) attached via the pole to the seat post—there must be some give for when the dog lags slightly and some recoil for when she speeds up or moves to the side; and
• a carabiner or other type of clip to attach to the dog’s harness.

If you’re not the kind of person handy enough to do a good job with this project, spend the money on a manufactured dog leash. You don’t want to be riding with your dog and experience the contraption falling apart and possibly jamming your spokes or the lead having too much give, resulting in a dog vs. tire encounter.

Should My Dog Wear Booties When Running?

If you’re bike-running with your dog on asphalt, check to make sure Daisy’s foot pads are not cracked or cut or swollen. Gravel and asphalt can cause injury. Asphalt, because of its color, also absorbs heat and can get quite hot. You want to ensure your dog’s pads aren’t getting burned.

If you discover that Daisy needs protection, you might want to invest in dog booties. As when selecting any dog gear, you need to think about your dog’s specific needs:

• Make sure the booties fit well and don’t rub against the paw or ankle. Make sure they are designed to stay on.
• Choose boots that are good for the weather you’re dealing with. Do you need water-resistant boots, or would you be better off choosing shoes that breathe? If you’re biking in cold weather, make sure Mr. Pickles has warm boots to protect against the cold.
• You also need to base your selection on the terrain of your route. If you’re dealing with rocks or wet sand, get something that has some padding. But if you’re going to be on asphalt, you need something with grip that also protects against heat.

Manufacturers have come up with a huge variety of designs for different purposes. As always, do your research. Be sure to include consumer reviews because consumers are the ones who truly know how well the booties fit and stay on.

In addition to considering booties, you might also think about waxing your dog’s paw pads. Paw wax helps prevent cracking. It can also help to prevent a blown pad, which is one that has lost one or more layers of skin. Finally, wax works to prevent snow or ice balls from gathering between your dog’s toes.

How Do You Mountain Bike with a Dog?

Mountain biking with a dog is a whole different activity than riding a bike with your dog in a park, on a city street, or in a rural area. Flying downhill on uneven terrain on often narrow trails marked by tree roots and rocks introduces a different set of issues to the equation.

Generally, you don’t want to have your dog attached to your bike in this situation because it’s too dangerous—for both you and the dog. Neither do you want to be holding the leash—you need both hands on the handlebars, and you can’t risk the dog pulling your hand. That leaves you with the option of having the dog run free.

If you’re going to go leash-free, you need to work with your dog on some key training points:

• Obeying voice commands in case you encounter other bikers on the route.
• Not running off after wildlife. Some wildlife, like mountain lions, might enjoy the fun of chasing and catching your dog, so staying on the trail is important.
• Keeping up so she doesn’t get lost.
• Staying out of the way. You won’t be able to stop as quickly when mountain biking and you may have more trouble keeping your balance on uneven terrain.

Don’t forget the usual safety considerations:

• Take frequent breaks so your dog can rest—he doesn’t ever get to coast downhill.
• Bring plenty of water on your ride if there are no streams or lakes. You’ll need a collapsible dog bowl too.
• Protect your dog’s paws with booties and/or wax.

Finally, bring a leash just in case. You may need to leash up at some point and walk your bike.

How to Become a Dermatologist

Written for a client, March 2019.

Meta: Are you interested in a career in dermatology? Read about how to prepare, the training you will need, and what to expect from your experience in the field.

A dermatologist is a medical doctor specializing in skin, hair, nails, and mucous membranes and their many diseases, such as skin cancer, xeroderma, skin tumors, psoriasis, acne, rosacea, and contact dermatitis. Dermatologists must be able to read and interpret skin biopsies and perform some surgical procedures such as laser surgery and skin grafts.

Dermatologists differ from plastic surgeons in terms of the scale and amount of surgery they perform. Similar to plastic surgeons, they do treat some cosmetic concerns—scars, hair loss, and effects of aging—but their approach to these issues is usually through skin treatments as opposed to surgery.

A dermatologist’s practice is often quite varied. Many dermatologists treat people of all ages, and the conditions they treat range from common problems like acne to much more worrisome, disfiguring or life-threatening conditions and diseases, like onchocerciasis, which is more commonly known as river blindness.

One thing that distinguishes a dermatologist’s practice is that he or she is often treating not just a problem that creates physical discomfort but also an externally visible problem that may scar the patient emotionally.

Still interested? Let’s examine how to become a dermatologist.

Undergraduate Education

If a career in dermatology interests you, you need to start with a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college. Your undergraduate major does not have to be medically related—however, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommends that students complete at a minimum the following undergraduate coursework:

• Biology: one year
• Physics: One year
• English: One year
• Chemistry: two years (including organic chemistry)

The AAMC also recommends that undergrads develop 15 core competencies before attending medical school:

• Service orientation: Shows the desire to help others.
• Social skills: Shows awareness of others and responds appropriately.
• Cultural competence: Demonstrates awareness of and respect for diversity.
• Teamwork: Shows the ability to cooperate with others.
• Oral communication: Can listen well and communicate effectively.
• Ethical responsibility to self and others: Demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior.
• Reliability and dependability: Meets obligations on time and takes responsibility.
• Resilience and adaptability: Shows the ability to navigate stressful situations and change.
• Capacity for improvement: Exhibits a desire for self-improvement and ongoing learning.
• Critical thinking: Demonstrates the ability to analyze and evaluate.
• Quantitative reasoning: Shows the ability to explain natural phenomena through the application of mathematics.
• Scientific inquiry: Uses the scientific process to solve problems and analyze situations.
• Written communication: Communicates effectively in writing.
• Living systems: Uses knowledge of natural sciences to solve problems.
• Human behavior: Uses an understanding of human behavior to solve problems.

Additional Preparation

Throughout your undergraduate studies and before, while, and after you attend medical school, you will want to gain professional experience related to dermatology. This experience might consist of working behind the front desk at a dermatologist’s office or being a medical scribe for a dermatologist, for example.

You might also seek out fellowships, attend conferences, and look for dermatology-related volunteer experiences. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) maintains a list of volunteer opportunities on their website.

These experiences will make you a better candidate for medical school, but, even more important, they will build your skills and help you decide if dermatology is the medical specialty for you.

Medical School

Do your research to find schools with good medical programs. Make sure the Liaison Committee on Medical Accreditation has accredited your chosen schools.

When you have narrowed down your list, consult the AAMC’s list of medical schools’ admission requirements to find out what other hoops you need to jump through to get accepted to your chosen schools.

AAD provides an online dermatology curriculum. This curriculum should give you an idea of what you will be studying in medical school.

Internship

After you graduate from medical school, you will need to complete a year-long internship, not specifically in dermatology, that will give you broad medical experience.

Residency

With an internship under your belt, you can begin your three-year residency in dermatology. Seek out and apply to competitive programs to build up your qualifications. Residency Navigator is a search engine that can help you find a residency program according to several criteria including location, specialty, reputation, research, and size.

You might also examine this 2018 study that ranked dermatology residency programs: “US Dermatology Residency Program Rankings Based on Academic Achievement.”

Make sure that your residency program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) if in the United States or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) if in Canada. Attending an accredited program will ensure that you will be permitted to take the American Board of Dermatology (ABD) exam.

Professional Exams

Before practicing medicine, you will need to pass your state’s medical licensing exam and the ABD exam. AAD offers a study tool to help residents prepare for the board exams.

Post Examination

Once you have cleared these hurdles, you may begin to practice as a dermatologist or pursue fellowships in dermatology-specific specialties such as pediatric dermatology, dermatopathology, dermatologic oncology, cosmetic dermatologic surgery, and Mohs micrographic surgery:

• Pediatric dermatology focuses on skin disorders affecting children.
• Dermatopathology involves studying skin diseases at microscopic and molecular levels.
• Dermatologic oncology focuses on cutaneous and subcutaneous cancers.
• Cosmetic dermatology specializes in treatments like Botox, chemical peels, collagen injections, laser surgery, dermabrasion, and liposuction.
• Mohs surgery is an outpatient procedure that combines the removal of cancerous cells with an examination under a microscope.

Other options are to follow an academic path and teach at a university or to conduct research.

Maintaining Your Certification

So we’ve considered how to become a dermatologist. But once you’ve achieved that goal, you probably want to keepbeing a dermatologist. Make sure, as you pursue your career, to maintain your certification. You don’t want to have to repeat exams down the road or have to retake coursework.

AAD provides a tool to help you track ongoing requirements and maintain your certification.  They also dedicate a section of their website to dermatologists just launching their careers. It’s called Career Launch, and it provides the following:

• Networking suggestions
• Resources to help with medical coding
• A study tool for the Board exams
• Other education resources
• Aids for managing a practice
• Archives of Dermatology World Young Physician Focus, an AAD publication devoted to supporting new dermatologists with information and resources

A Career in Dermatology

The preparation for becoming a dermatologist is long, as much as twelve years long. That includes undergrad education, medical school, an internship, and residencies.

And it’s expensive. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the average annual cost for tuition for first-year medical students from 2012 to 2019 falls somewhere between $55,000 and $93,000, depending on whether the student is a state resident and whether the school is public or private.

Finally, it is competitive. The National Resident Matching Program’s Results and Data for 2017 show that Dermatology is one of the most competitive medical residencies for students, in terms of admission to the programs.

You don’t want to embark on this journey without doing your homework: carefully researching your options and amassing as much experience in the field as you can. But if you decide it is the career for you, you will likely find it to be challenging, satisfying, and rewarding.

For one thing, you have many potential career paths to follow within the field:

• If you are teaching, you can glean satisfaction from helping others achieve their goals in dermatology.
• If you are doing research, you might potentially help many people who suffer from a skin condition or disease.
• As a surgeon, you might develop new techniques that are less disfiguring and more effective.
• If working with children, you may enjoy the rewards of helping young people overcome disfiguring conditions and live without pain.
• You might also come across opportunities to travel, helping people in other countries with skin disease epidemics: The World Health Organization reported that in 2001, more than 20,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa died from skin diseases.

As a practicing dermatologist, you can expect to treat everything from torn earlobes to fat under the chin to varicose veins. You’ll have patients with a range of problems, from hair loss to skin cancer to warts to vitiligo to shingles. In addition to prescribing medications, you will perform the following diverse procedures:

• Biopsies
• Chemical peels
• Dermabrasion
• Liposuction
• Cryotherapy
• Lesion excision
• Injections of Botox or collagen
• Hair transplants
• Mohs surgery
• Vein injection
• Skin grafts
• Laser surgery

The icing on the already tasty cake? Although you will likely have big education loans to pay off, you can expect to make pretty good money in dermatology. The average salary varies from state to state but, in general, you can expect to earn an annual salary of between $230,000 and $330,000.

So that’s how to become a dermatologist. If you’re still focused on dermatology for your career, plan carefully and use the resources outlined in our article. Then you will be able fully to embrace this particular medical field as one of the most compelling ways to practice medicine.

New Tool for Pediatricians Screening for Oral Health

Written for a client, January 2019.

Because parents don’t take their children to the dentist nearly as often as they visit the doctor, the pediatrician may be in a better position than the dentist to catch oral health problems. The American Dental Association Health Policy Institute reports that more than 14 million children between the ages of 1 and 4 have visited a physician but not a dentist.

But without performing a complete dental exam, how might a pediatrician even suspect tooth decay? The results of a multiyear study conducted by the Pediatric Oral Health Research and Policy Center may provide the answer. The study, begun in 2014, identifies the primary risk factors for cavities in children.

Armed with the knowledge of these risk factors, pediatricians may be better able to identify patients most in need of a referral to a dentist. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry pursued the study with the idea that pediatricians might benefit from an identification of “global variables collected routinely for all patients that might show a predictive relationship with dental disease.”

Six Primary Risk Factors for Caries

The study found six factors to be most closely linked to the development of cavities in children.

1. Referral to an MD specialist at 12 months.This kind of early referral suggests the patient has special healthcare needs, which are linked to increased incidence of dental disease.
2. Delayed immunizations and a history of broken appointments. The authors of the study conclude that because of the association between key parent-related factors (such as fear of side effects and lack of parental memory) and delayed immunizations/broken appointments, “it is not unreasonable to believe there also is a significant association” between such parent-related factors and cavity development.
3. Breast milk at 15 months and drinking at sleep times. Although breast milk itself is not associated with caries development, the study determined that “the risk of caries increases when sugars are ingested frequently . . . and remain in the mouth for extended periods. . . .”
4. Mother’s poor oral health status. Physicians have long known about the possibility for transmission of mutans streptococcifrom caregivers to children and the link to increased risk for cavities in children. The study also concludes that children are influenced by parental oral health habits.
5. Zip code with high poverty in more than 20 percent of the population. Children in low-income families are twice as likely to have caries as are children in more affluent families.
6. Hispanic ethnicity. The study reports that “the greatest racial and ethnic oral health disparity among children aged two to four years and aged six to eight years is seen in Mexican American and black, non-Hispanic children.” The report adds that Hispanic children are less likely to visit the dentist.

You can read the complete study here.

How to Track an iPhone Without iCloud

Written for a client, January 2019.

Meta Description: How do you find your misplaced iPhone when you can’t access iCloud? Try any of these six auxiliary methods to locate your phone and keep your data safe.

Apple offers iPhone users one built-in way to track their devices via iCloud. But sometimes the Cloud isn’t a viable option, and that’s when other tracking methods come in handy. For these occasions, you should know how to track an iPhone without iCloud.

What iCloud Does for Your Phone

iCloud provides many useful services:

• You can use it for remote storage of music, photos, and other items from your devices.
• It serves as a backup source for your phone’s data. That way, if your phone gets damaged or you lose it, you can download from the Cloud to a new phone all your important stored information, such as photos, calendars, and contact data.
• You can also use iCloud to connect your various devices so that you can work on a single project across all of them.

Find My iPhone

One of the most useful iCloud tools is called Find My iPhone. Once enabled on your phone, this built-in service provides a way to track your phone’s location via a map. If you’ve left your phone somewhere unsafe, you can use the Find My iPhone tool to lock the phone and even erase it, making it useless to a potential thief. Or you can post a message on the phone to anyone who finds it about how to return it.

When iCloud Might Not Work

Sometimes, however, you might have trouble with iCloud. One of the most common problems people have with iCloud is sign-in difficulty, such as when you forget your login or password. Or maybe you’re signed in to different iCloud accounts on numerous devices, which can also challenge your ability to use iCloud. Apple provides suggestions for dealing with a host of login problems including the following:

• Authentication failure
• Unsupported Apple ID error
• Lack of administrator privileges
• Unverified email
• Incorrect user name or password

In addition to having login difficulties, you may experience any of four other common types of iCloud problems:

• One problem with iCloud is an unexpected outage or temporary service-related shutdown. You can find out if this is the problem you are experiencing by visiting the Apple System Status Page.
• Some people experience difficulty with iCloud when they haven’t installed the latest version of iOS.
• If you have exceeded your storage limit, you will also have trouble using iCloud.
• Finally, iCloud is not available in every country or region. So, if you are traveling, you might find yourself suddenly unable to access the Cloud.

With this range of possible problems, you’re likely to experience iCloud trouble from time to time. But what if your iCloud troubles coincide with misplacing your phone?

Fortunately, there are numerous other phone tracking options. We will explore six ways how to track an iPhone without iCloud.

Call Your Phone

Okay, this one is obvious. Lose your phone? Use another phone to call it. Maybe someone who has found your phone will answer and help you out or, if your phone is close by, you will hear it ringing.

What if you don’t have another phone to use to call your lost one? Download Viber to your computer or use Google Voice to phone from your tablet or Mac.

Use Google Timeline

Google Timeline maps the locations your phone has visited, such as wherever you lost it. You first have to enable the service on your phone. Then, when you track your phone on another device, log into the same Google account.

To set up Google Timeline, choose Settings on your phone. Then select Privacy. Tap Location Services. Select Google Maps and enable Always.

Now click the Google Maps app on your phone. Select Menu and choose the settings gear icon.  Select Personal Content under Account Settings and scroll to Location Settings. Turn Location Services on.

Google will begin to track where your phone goes. And that means you can see when logged into your account on another device where your missing phone has been. To view your history, click the Google Maps app, select Menu, and choose Timeline.

Use Apple Watch

Apple Watch will provide you with the same kind of iPhone tracking as Google Maps. Swipe up on your watch to bring up the menu screen. Find the iPhone icon at the bottom. If you tap it, your phone will ping to alert you of its whereabouts.

For this to work, you must first make sure to enable Bluetooth on both your devices and to pair your watch and phone.

Use a GPS Tracking App

You can choose from a healthy list of GPS tracking apps available for iPhone in the App Store. All of these apps use the Global Positioning System, which relies on satellite communication. The way it works is your device emits a signal to the satellites, which determine its originating location. Read more about GPS here.

The trick with many of these GPS apps is to make sure that your friends and/or family members have the apps installed as well and that you connect with them in the same group. That way, when your phone goes missing, all you have to do is ask one of them to look up your phone’s location on their app.

Here are some current GPS tracking app options. You can find these in the Apple App Store.

• Family Tracking: This one works on both iOS and Android, which is good if your family or network use different platforms. The developers also claim it is extremely energy efficient and won’t drain your battery.
• FollowMee: You can use this app for free to track the three-day history of everyone in your network, and you can access the tracking map via your computer.
• Geozilla: The developers claim their tracking app has the lowest battery consumption. The app also provides an instant messaging service to use with people in your chosen network.
• Glympse: This app, which offers the oomph needed for business users, may include more than you need. But you might enjoy the feature of sharing your location and estimated arrival time even with friends or family who don’t have the app.
• GPSWox: Choose from five pricing tiers ranging from free to “White Label.” The free version does not store history but only tracks your device’s location live. It’s brandable if you want to use it to track employees.
• Life 360: This one is free and easy. Use the app to save favorite locations that it will then identify by name when you or someone in your network goes there. You can also “check in” with the people in your network.
• Phone Tracker: Although free, this app limits your connections to two users. For $0.99, you can connect up to ten people.
• Safe 24: Although this app supports eleven languages, which is a nice feature, the developers say it may drain your battery even if the app is not open.

Assess each option for price, support, and ease of use. It’s a good idea to make sure that you can log in online to the service to track your device if it goes missing.

Join Tile

Tile is a tracking device that you attach to your phone (or other items). If you misplace your phone, you push a button that you have installed somewhere else, and your tracking device will make a sound to help you locate it. If you are not close enough to hear it, you can turn to the Tile community of users to help you find your device. Tile refers to their users as “the world’s largest search party.”

Join Prey

Prey is a security system that can help you locate any connected device. All you do is install the app on any phone or tablet you want to track. Then, if one device goes missing, you go online to see where it is. As with Find My Phone, you can use Prey remotely to lock your phone, retrieve your data or erase it, and ring an alarm.

You choose a plan with Prey. A free basic plan gives you control over three devices in what they call a “control zone,” or a defined area where you regularly use the device. Upgrading to $5 per month gives you three control zones for your devices.

Final Thoughts

You now know how to track your iPhone without iCloud. Whether you decide to opt for Google Timeline or your Apple Watch, to download one of many available GPS tracking apps from the App Store, or to sign up for a security tool or services like Tile or Prey, you’ve got backup.

Remember, however, that the easiest way to track your phone is still through the iCloud-based Find My Phone app that comes pre-installed on your iPhone. You want to enable this service first. Then explore the other options we’ve covered here for the one you want to be your auxiliary system.

With two methods in place, you can move through the world relatively carefree, at least regarding that electronic device that you carry in your pocket or purse wherever you go.

Despite Explosion, Bainbridge Fireworks Show’s a Go

Posted on June 27, 2012 on Inside Bainbridge

Scott Isenman, the leader of Bainbridge Fireworks, the group that organizes the Eagle Harbor Fireworks–Jeff Golden fireworks display each year, says that, even though their entire computer-controlled and music-synchronized $20,000 collection blew up in its Belfair storage container yesterday morning, the show is going ahead full-blast. The reason is that the owner of Aurora Fireworks, the company that designs and puts on the display each year, is dipping into his own pockets to replace the Bainbridge and Poulsbo shows, both of which were destroyed, to the tune of $40,000.

The accident, which happened at 1 a.m. Monday, was the result of a stray gunshot. The owner of the wrecking yard where the fireworks are stored in containers was shooting at targets with his adult daughter when a ricochet struck the container and set off the chain of explosions. He called 911 to report the incident.

Isenman reported that the original Bainbridge display is still not paid for as his organization continues to raise money from individual and business donations. So far they have raised $14,000. To support the fireworks, visit the Bainbridge Fireworks website. You can donate via PayPal through the website, in-person at America West Bank (formerly Viking), or in donation jars such as at ACE, San Carlos, Madison Diner, and Doc’s. Volunteers will be collecting at T&C on Wednesday and Saturday this week.

Bainbridge Community Foundation Wants to Give You Money

Posted on February 25, 2014, on Inside Bainbridge.

The Bainbridge Community Foundation has given over 1,100 grants totaling $5.67 million to local nonprofits during its 13 years of operation. Last year alone, 49 grants totaling $139,166 were awarded. Now BCF wants to give you some dough too.

But first you need to apply, and you only have until March 10 to do so. The 2014 Community Grants Cycle is currently open to Washington nonprofits with 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, located in the state, and serving Bainbridge Island residents. Last year, 98 percent of the funds granted stayed in our community. You can request grants between $1,000 and $10,000. Last year, grants ranged from $750 to $6,825, and the average was about $2,500.

BCF will be looking for projects or programs that directly benefit the community, help the greatest number of people or underserved populations, and have measurable outcomes. BCF will also consider whether projects/programs demonstrate organizational effectiveness, innovation, and board/organization capacity and whether they are well planned and likely to succeed.

Grants can be used to support nonprofit programming, outreach, capital, access to services, or operational expenses. BCF does not fund research, scholarships or fellowships, in-kind or product donations, loans, or vehicles.

Previous grants have supported a variety of different community causes including education, animal welfare, environment, arts and culture, recreation, and health and human services.

To apply, follow the instructions here and then apply here. Applicants will be notified mid-June about awards. A celebration of the grant awardees will take place in late June.

A Conversation About Gun Control with Bainbridge Island Sportsmen’s Club President

Posted on January 31, 2013, at 9:00 pm on Inside Bainbridge.

At the City Council meeting last week when the resolution to ban semiautomatic weapons was passed, Alan Kasper, President of the Bainbridge Island Sportsmen’s Club, spoke to councilmembers at length and with some passion about his opposition. After that, I asked to meet with him to discuss his opposition to the resolution—what is in essence a non-binding decision since Washington State law supersedes the weapons legislation passed by any of its municipalities.

We met in the clubhouse at a large table, under the gaze of wall-mounted deer and fish.

Kasper started our conversation by clarifying for me what an assault weapon is. He said that it is what the military has—a fully automatic weapon. He explained that such weapons have three settings: safe (when it can’t be fired), fire (when it can be fired again and again with each pull of the trigger, and auto (in which it continues firing as long as your finger is on the trigger). He said it is illegal for civilians to possess fully automatic weapons unless specifically licensed by the government. His point is that the debate over assault weapons is really a debate about semiautomatic weapons, since fully automatic weapons were banned in 1934.

So with that caveat, Kasper proceeded to answer my questions.

What (If Anything) Is Worthwhile About Semiautomatic Weapons?

I shared with Kasper that, on Inside Bainbridge, a commenter compared the semiautomatic weapons ban to banning SUVs, saying that SUVs are more likely than other vehicles to cause serious damage in a crash. But one problem with this comparison that I could see is that, as a society, we generally perceive some value to SUVs: They survive a crash better, they can carry lots of kids, they can haul things and tow things, and they can handle extreme weather conditions. As a society, we have apparently decided that the benefits outweigh the risks. I told Kasper that I don’t see how that criterion applies to semiautomatic weapons. I asked him, “What benefit is there to semiautomatic weapons that outweighs the risks?”

Kasper replied that when people returned from fighting in World Wars I and II, they returned with bolt action Mauser 98s as war trophies. Kasper explained that the Mauser 98 is what Hitler’s armies used. Returning vets “sportorized them” and used them for recreational purposes, such as target shooting and hunting, he said, because it’s what they had grown used to.

Kasper made it clear that, for him, a gun has to have an aesthetic value. He finds the current “military style rifles” to be ugly. But, he added, “It’s a matter of personal taste,” and he asked rhetorically who is he to determine what kinds of weapons are acceptable and what kinds are not?

I said, “So you’ve identified one benefit: They’re fun. Some people like to shoot semiautomatic weapons.” He agreed. Kasper, who enjoys telling stories, told me about his ten-year-old granddaughter who thought shooting was evil. Kasper asked her where she had heard that, and she said at school. He took her to the shooting range and told her to try firing just one shot. He said, “She did, and then she did another, and then 100.” He said, with obvious pride, that the last time they went shooting she fired 300 rounds, evidently enjoying the activity that she had once believed was evil.

Kasper identified a second benefit to such weapons: He said they are useful in cases of self-defense. As an example, he said that, after Hurricane Katrina, as New Orleans descended into chaos, people armed themselves with semiautomatic weapons and stood on the roofs of their businesses to keep looters at bay. To further emphasize his point, he said he had just spoken with a federal agent who told him that, in Seattle, armed gangs are now breaking down people’s doors and entering their homes to rob them.

I asked how on earth anyone sitting in their living room when a gang broke down their front door was going to have time to fetch their semiautomatic weapon from its storage locker and load it. I said, in the case of a home invasion, “You’re going to reach for your handgun if anything and barely have time to do that.”

Kasper agreed that was the most likely scenario, but he added, “If I was living in the inner city and in a neighborhood where gangs would come bursting through my front door, I’d want to have a semiautomatic rifle.” He said he had lived in a rough part of Chicago and would have been killed twice on the streets if he hadn’t had his gun with him. I also like to share stories. I told him I too had lived in a rough part of Chicago. One night, when a roommate was coming home late, she got caught in the middle of a gang war. Just before attacking her, one of the gangbangers stopped and said, “Are you a girl?” When she said yes, he escorted her home to safety and told her to stay off the street. I said to Kasper, “If she’d pulled a gun that night, she would have been killed.”

He shrugged, and I realized that for every story one of us might have that proves our point there is another story that contradicts it.

Why Is the Second Amendment So Important?

We discussed the Second Amendment (which guarantees the Right to Bear Arms). Kasper said, “The Second Amendment is not to protect hunters. It’s to give citizens the ability to stand up to our government.”

I said, “How are we going to stand up with semiautomatic rifles to a government that is armed with drones, missiles, and nuclear weapons?”

He said it would be through guerrilla warfare just the way it was happening in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. He added, “It’s highly unlikely, but still do we want to sacrifice that right?”

What’s Wrong with Current and Proposed Gun Legislation?

Kasper has little patience for what he perceives to be nonsense. And he applied his impatience specifically to current gun legislation, including the semiautomatic weapons ban resolution.

He showed me a full-page ad from a glossy magazine called Rifle. The ad shows a black military-style rifle. Kasper said he thought it was an ugly weapon but his point was that, if a national magazine was carrying a full-page ad for that type of weapon, then it must be popular. He said, “Not that there are any left in the stores right now, but this is what a lot of people want to buy.”

He then showed me three characteristics of that particular gun that he said would be banned under Senator Dianne Feinstein’s proposed gun legislation: a pistol grip, a barrel shroud (flash suppressor), and a telescoping stock. He thought it was ludicrous that a popular gun being marketed to a wide audience would be illegal under Feinstein’s legislation. I wondered why anyone would need a flash suppressor which, Kasper explained, conceals the shooter’s location at night when a fired gun makes a visible flash. Kasper didn’t know but he said that some people think it can help reduce recoil. I wondered why someone didn’t just invent something to reduce recoil that didn’t also suppress flash.

A pistol grip, however, seems like an odd thing to ban. I asked Kasper, “Wouldn’t that make all handguns illegal?”

He said that Feinstein has said publicly that she wants to eliminate all weapons.

I checked out the proposed legislation, which is very complicated and detailed about the specific combinations of characteristics that would make a weapon illegal. It turns out that it is a detachable magazine in combination with one of those other characteristics, such as the flash suppressor, that would make the gun illegal. So, for example, a Magnum .357 revolver would not be banned under that legislation.

Where Is the Common Ground?

Throughout our conversation, Kasper kept returning to the argument that the Bainbridge Island resolution and other types of gun control don’t work and therefore are a waste of time. He then asked me how well Prohibition had worked to limit the sale of alcohol. He asked how well prohibition of heroin was working in our society. “To quote Ron Paul,” he said, “we can’t even keep drugs out of our prisons. How are we going to manage criminals and people who are psychotic? It will drive the markets underground.”

He said, “We’re having this conversation about silliness and we’re still not doing anything about psychotic people. We have to focus on what will make our children safer.” To this end, last week Kasper presented to the City Council a list of the steps he recommends for protecting society against the kind of violence that happened in Sandy Hook. His list starts out with civil dialog. He then lists background checks for all transfers at gun shows, a national database of people disqualified from gun ownership (such as convicted felons and the mentally ill), fixing and enforcing the current legislation, adjusting the messages given out via Hollywood, putting armed guards in schools, education, and treating and managing the mentally ill.

I questioned him about how our financially overburdened education system is going to be able to afford putting armed guards in schools. Plus, I asked, how is a guard armed with a pistol going to deal with two or more people who come in shooting? I said, “The guard will be killed first.” He said, “That is a scenario that could happen.” Then he talked about installing steel doors with locks in schools. But, again, that is a cost challenge in today’s economy.

As an example of the need to fix current legislation, he told me that, under current law, he is allowed to take a sidearm along on a hunting trip. But, he said, if he decides to spend the night sleeping in the back of the truck, it is illegal for him to have the sidearm in the truck with him unless he also had a concealed pistol permit. He called this one of many “goofy gun laws.”

I asked Kasper what gun control measure could be added to his list. I said that there must be some type of weapon that it would be beneficial to ban. But Kasper stood his ground. He would not concede anything on this point. I said that it feels to me as if the gun community operates as if it is of a single mind, as a monolithic block that will not budge on any point that involves restricting gun ownership. He said, “To a certain extent, yes,” and he emphasized again that he wouldn’t know how to decide what kinds of guns should be restricted over others.

Kasper said, “Let’s have a respectful dialog and then, once we have that, do something together that has a chance of stopping the carnage of our babies.” I said, “We’re having a respectful dialog. What concessions will you bring to the table?” I pressed him to go to a middle ground where each side would make a concession. We went back and forth, with him refusing to give on any gun-banning point. He kept saying he couldn’t imagine a scenario where there would be one type of gun or one characteristic that universally needed to be banned.

Finally, Kasper said, “I would feel comfortable saying this. If there were a mechanism—if we as a community could make this happen—I would support it: Anyone who buys a semiautomatic weapon would have to go through a training to be certified in its use and safety and the like and end up with a license.”

Kasper said that he has been fingerprinted multiple times and would be happy to support fingerprinting for people with a semiautomatic weapon, or even any firearm, as part of background checks.

Kasper and I headed up to the pistol range to try out some handguns and rifles since I had no experience shooting them and I felt I couldn’t write this if I didn’t. First Kasper gave me the rundown on the rules. I had to wear protective eyewear and earwear. I was never to put my finger on the trigger until I was aiming the gun and ready to shoot it. I was never to point it anywhere but exactly downrange.

Kasper reviewed the parts of the gun and showed me how each gun required a different type of cartridge. He told me we were using slower bullets to minimize recoil since it was my first time shooting.

He talked me through the firing of three handguns, two semiautomatic and one not. I shot a Ruger Model 1 .22 LR, a Smith & Wesson Model 60 .357 Magnum, and a Colt Gold Cup .45 ACP.

I felt wildly out of control shooting the handgun, as if I had absolutely no assurance of where the bullet was going, despite the fact that the target was only about four feet in front of me. I felt like I was holding a weapon designed specifically and only for the killing of another person. The .357 Magnum was the least comfortable for me. I preferred the Ruger.

Then he showed me his bolt action .22 rim fire rifle. I took aim with it and shot and hit the target easily, although it was much farther away, at the far end of the range. Hitting the target made a satisfying ping sound. Then I used a semiautomatic rifle with a scope and again, even as I pulled the trigger in rapid-style fashion, no lock and load necessary, I couldn’t miss.

The problem I saw with the rifles was that it was way too easy and, because of the distance, impersonal to shoot them. I felt detached and far away from the target and, yet, I was more accurate.

Overall, if I had to choose, I would pick the lock and load .22. For me, it was the easiest to shoot. And I’m sure there’s a psychology to mine there.

Conclusions

When it came down to it, I realized that there may be no room for budging on any of the two sides of the issue of gun ownership: One side wants no restrictions on a person’s right to own a firearm, on any type not already banned by the National Firearms Act of 1934. And the other side wants to get rid of guns altogether. The middle ground may not be big enough. The place for common effort lies only on the periphery of the guns themselves: the steps required to own a gun, the rules that would forbid a particular person from owning a gun, changes to the way our country deals with the mentally ill, and even changes to our cultural values and popular entertainment.

However, I felt like I had finally penetrated the wall of resistance that often seems to come from the NRA—in the sense that I had seen over the wall, not in the sense that I had busted a hole in it. I had seen that a good portion of the people in our country feel that any kind of restriction of gun type feels unfair and arbitrary. Whereas one person might happily dispense with “ugly” military-style guns, another might be willing to dump historical relics that still fire. Whereas one person (Kasper) might feel that using a military-style semiautomatic weapon to shoot an animal is ridiculous and irresponsible, another might completely disagree. Each person wants to make sure that his or her hobby, fascination, aesthetic preference, right of citizenship, or chosen self-defense methodology goes unrestricted. There is likely no way to get agreement on what types of guns to ban and what types to keep. The fact is that all guns, regardless of whether they have a pistol handle or not, a seven-bullet magazine or a ten-bullet magazine, can be used just as well for recreational target practice or for the slaughter of children.

As a person who, until just very recently, wasn’t even allowed the same rights as my neighbors, I can both understand and not understand this reality at all. On the one hand I feel that if I could put up with restrictions on my personal liberties for so long, why can’t gun owners? On the other hand, I don’t want to put up with any rights restrictions even a moment longer.

Kasper brought a cartridge to show me. It was the casing of a bullet of the same type that had been used to kill the two dozen teachers and students at Sandy Hook Elementary. It was small, like the victims, and seemingly inconsequential, especially compared to the other much larger hunting shells he showed me. But that small bullet had had a huge impact on so many lives. I just don’t know if it was enough impact to get people to agree on a lasting change.

Priciest House Ever on Bainbridge Just Listed at $12.8M

Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:29 am on Inside Bainbridge.

Even in a so-so economy, Windermere is confidently listing this Bainbridge Island house for almost $13 million. That’s because it’s not the kind of home you run across every day or maybe even ever. The design alone, by award-winning Miller Hull Architects, required more than 10,000 hours, and the construction, completed in 2002, spanned four years.

The result of all that work is dramatic, unique, a little outrageous, and far beyond what most of us would ever need or imagine. The home sits on a magnificent 13-acre waterfront property on the northwest of the Island near Agate Pass with exactly the kind of views you might be able to imagine for the price. It includes a landscaped lawn, fairly old-growth forest land, water features, a putting green, an outdoor hot tub suspended in the tree canopy off the master bathroom, and a staircase from the high bluff to the beach. The property is gated and secure, including completely automated security systems, ten motion-sensing cameras, fingerprint access, glass break sensors, and infrared, automated fire/heat/smoke systems.

Depending on how you configure it, the house has between four and five bedrooms plus playrooms, a rec room, a safe room, and a library (in walnut). It covers 10,500 square feet. An art studio to accommodate your hobby or perhaps your own personal artist adds 500 more feet, and there is a storage building just in case you couldn’t fit everything you own into the 11,000 other feet.

The house is built with FSC-certified woods, 1,000-year-old recycled cedar, and Douglas fir beams from a 1921 shipwreck. The walls and ceiling are done in cherry and the floors in machiche, an exotic hardwood from southern Mexico or Brazil.

It is heated with no-sound forced air heat and redundant in-floor heating. Apparently built for an optimist, it also includes twenty tons of air conditioning capacity. The result is fifteen separate temperature zones throughout the residence.

The kitchen features Double Wolf ovens and seven Subzeros. A full catering/service kitchen includes a dishwasher, a bar, and a large Wolf oven. The wine and liquor cellar built with stone imported from China will be able to handle all 4,000 bottles in your collection.

Additional quarters for staff are provided separate from the main house and over the garage, which can accommodate three cars.

And then there’s the technology: A complete office setup includes an advanced phone system with five lines, fax, polycom, and video conference capabilities. The house is wired for ultra high-speed internet and with fiber-optic cable and cat 5. Cable access is provided in every room. High-end audio and video servers are also built into every room, with subwoofers placed in the walls. A battery system backs up the main computers.

Because you wouldn’t want to go to all this trouble only to have it ruined by a natural disaster, the home was built to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 130 mph winds. A 65 KW generator and a 2,000-gallon underground propane system can sustain two weeks of continuous operation of all systems. The property includes a 5,000-gallon water tower. And the home is completely sound and vibration proof, even in 40 mph winds.

A brochure describes the house as Feng Shui compliant, which can only mean that if you live in it you feel really good about yourself.

Interested? Unless you buy it outright, your monthly payments will run about $53,000. That does not include cable.

Regattas on the Horizon: Your Survival Guide

Posted on BainbridgeRowing.org March 4, 2019.

The spring regatta season is about to begin, with the first event, the Salt Watta Regatta, scheduled for this Sunday, March 10, at home. (An earlier regatta against Holy Names has been postponed.) If you’ve never been to a regatta, you need some help.

A regatta is not like other sports events you may have attended. Take a cross country meet, for example. You pick a place to stand, probably near the finish line, and when the runners charge past, you yell. At a cross country meet, you might watch two to four races that way: JV girls, JV boys, Varsity girls, and Varsity boys. Then you go home.

Here’s where the regatta differs:

1. The place you pick to watch might be really far from the rowers, and so the rowers don’t really go charging past you.
2. When you yell, they might not hear you.
3. You don’t watch four races. You watch anywhere from 10 to, say, 65.
4. When you’re watching a race, you probably have no idea what race you’re watching.
5. When you see two boats neck and neck, they might not actually be neck and neck. (More on that later.)
6. You don’t go home for a while.

You might be wondering why, given those differences, you’d even want to watch a regatta. Read on.

What Makes a Regatta Great

Imagine a music festival with no music. That’s what a regatta is like. People gather on blankets or lawn chairs, they line up at vendor’s booths, they grab food from the team kitchen tent, they look for friends or teammates, and they train binoculars on the stage or, in this case, the water.

Everyone feels the anticipation of the next act—or race. Everyone is united in a communal purpose: in our case, supporting a rower.

You could say that the terrific part of a regatta happens in the spaces between the races. It’s about the preparation and excitement for what’s to come or the complete and happy exhaustion after.

Showing up is a key part to what makes a regatta great. Experience proves that, even if you hardly speak to one another, your rower wants you to be there, somewhere along the race route.

How to Make Your Regatta Better

Three things will make your regatta better.

The third most important thing is to go to bed early the night before. All regattas involve early rising. There’s no other way to get the whole shebang wrapped up and done by sunset. You’ll feel better if you have sleep.

The second most important thing is to bring the right gear, which we will get to in a moment.

The first most important thing you can do to make your regatta better is to sign up for a volunteer assignment. That job—whether it’s helping to load and unload the boats, cooking food in the team kitchen, tying ribbons in the rowers’ hair, or taking photos for the team website—is what’s going to make the time pass and get you through.

Want to sign up? Click here.

The Regatta Gear You Need

This is a list of the eight key items you need in your regatta gear bag:

1. If you drink coffee, you will need it.
2. If you hope to see anything at all, bring binoculars.
3. The hunger really kicks in around 10 a.m., even if you’re just a lazy toad spectator. Gather food.
4. There will be downtime. Like crossword puzzles? Bring them. Don’t forget other forms of entertainment: a book, your tablet, your smart phone. Don’t forget a charger. Prepare to make small talk.
5. You can’t stand for six hours. You need a chair, a vehicle comfortable enough to hang out in, or a blanket.
6. Depending on the weather, you will either need a down coat and hat or sunscreen and hat. Or  an umbrella.
7. Most regattas happen in beautiful places. Bring your walking shoes so you can explore.
8. Cheering at a regatta is exhausting. Lug a cowbell.It sends a clear message with low effort.

Remember when we talked about boats being neck and neck in a race? Here’s what you need to know about that. If you’re watching a sprint, then, yes, the boat at the front is the one that is winning. A head race, however, involves a staggered start. So when you see two boats neck and neck, one is actually quite a bit ahead of the other. The problem is that you might not know which one.

Get ready. The regattas are coming. Want to know more and when? Check out our spring regatta page and click through to the BIR Parent Leadership’s Regatta Guidefor each race. Also check out our BIR Rowing 101 page.

Refugees from Planet Earth

Posted on November 11, 2008 on On a Ledge.

War, disease, economic devastation, and catastrophic geologic and climate events create refugees every day. According to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants’  World Refugee Survey 2008, worldwide there are currently over 14 million. An additional 25 million people are displaced internally and so are not considered in refugee totals. In the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, the advances of Tutsi Rebels have displaced 200,000 people since August.

But those are just numbers. And they’re so big, it’s hard to understand what they even mean on a personal level, to the people who are refugees—and to the people who are not.

People Without a Place

To be a person without a place is to be

• a burden to someone else. As such, the refugee is unwanted.
• rootless. The refugee is bereft of the social support of community, job, home, friends, school, place of worship, connections. In short, all he or she has left might be a bundle of personal possessions, a few family members, and, if fortunate, daily access to food and water.
• on hold. Until the refugee again has a place in the world, he or she faces an immense challenge in raising a family, in making a meaningful contribution to society, in feeling worthwhile, and in establishing meaningful connections within a community.
• in a power imbalance. Other people wield control over the refugee’s life. The refugee cannot vote, cannot complain, cannot work to change his or her circumstances, cannot demand basic civil rights.
• in danger. Being a refugee means being subject to violence, to climate-caused hardship, to starvation, to illness, to rape, and to enslavement. In the three Somali refugee camps in northeast Kenya, the 100,000 refugees are subject to frequent attacks from bandits and militias. Their possessions are often stolen. The women are raped when they leave the camp to collect firewood or during bandit invasions. More than 300 rapes have been documented, 10 of them blamed on Kenyan police. In the Saharwi camps near Tindouf in the Algerian desert, where nearly 90,000 Saharwi have lived for 30 years, many refugees are enslaved, having become the property of other refugees in the camps. In August, Spanish police across the country freed 600 Russian sex slaves,economic refugees who had come to Spain for the promise of work picking strawberries. These are just a few examples of what a refugee faces.

Your New Neighbors

The United States has promised to admit 17,000 Iraqi refugees next year, up from 12,000 this year. (This figure pales in comparison to the burden shouldered by Syria, Jordan, and other neighboring countries of Iraq, which have taken in 1.5 million Iraqis.) The Center for Immigration Studies reports that 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants, many of whom are economic refugees, settle in the United States each year. The Center predicts that if immigration continues at current levels, the nation’s population will increase by 167 million (56 percent)  by 2060, with immigrants and their descendants accounting for 63 percent of the increase. But immigration will not continue at current levels. Instead, as a result of climate change, it will most certainly increase as increasing refugee populations look for places to relocate.

What does it mean to be the host country of refugees? First there is an economic burden, as health care, education, and social service resources are increasingly tapped. Second there is the burden of social unrest caused when large numbers of desperate people suddenly pour into an area and begin to consume already scant resources.

Planet of Refugees?

Climate change will bring refugee status and the burden of refugee hosting to people in all parts of the world. The UN has warned that the numbers of refugees are again on the rise, and that climate change is creating a new type of refugee. Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees explains: “Climate change is today one of the main drivers of forced displacement, both directly through impact on environment—not allowing people to live any more in the areas where they were traditionally living—and as a trigger of extreme poverty and conflict.” The Christian Aid Agency predicts that there will be a total of one billion people displaced by climate change by 2050.

Where are all the displaced people going to go? You can be sure that refugees are coming to your neighborhood, if you remain lucky enough to still have one. And the refugees will not just be human. We will be seeing refugees of every species in search of hospitable places on earth, looking for food, looking for water, looking for shelter.

If climate change remains unchecked, we are all in danger of becoming refugees from Planet Earth. Except there is no other place to go.